Computer Troubles

It's official - the Dell mom bought for me for Christmas a couple of years ago is officially dead!

I have had so much trouble with that computer. About 6 months after I got it, it started acting up. The first problem I encountered was that I could not log in. I could turn it on, but the screen would immediately go blank. I called customer service where I was helped by some man in India. I really do not know what all he said, but there was one point where I did a little test, and I did understand his response - the hard drive was shot. I was livid!! I lost everything (the most devastating loss being all my photos!!). I had to send in the bad hard drive to Dell and they sent me a new one. It was a huge hassel, and although it was a free replacement (still under warranty), it's not like I knew what the heck the hard drive even was! I had to call Troy (mom's trusty computer guy) to help me take out the old one and put in the new one. He then installed a back up hard drive that would automatically back up my files every night at 3:00 am. Problem solved. For a few months, anyways!

Not 10 months later, it happened again. I am not even sure what "it" was, just that our computer was all fouled up. I opted not to call my good friends in India, but instead went straight to Troy. He said my hard drive was shot and needed to be replaced - again! My computer was no longer under warranty, but somehow he finageled Dell for a free replacement. I was really bummed, though. At this point, I really didn't feel that I could trust this computer. And what a hassel! It's not like Troy dropped everything to come and work on my pc, so everytime I had an issue, my computer was out of commission for over a week. No email, no internet, and since my phone was through my computer as well, I had troubles with it, too!! Plus, even though I got the hard drive for free both times, Troy was not! But whatever, it was back up and working.

Fast forward another few months. Problems again. This time, we would be working on the computer and it would suddenly kick you off line, or shut down. Very wierd. But, I was in the process of getting married and moving, so I decided to just move the whole messed-up thing and deal with it here in WI. Of course, I don't have a Troy here, so I had to turn to the trusty phone book. Ok - we are in Sheboygan, WI - literally one of the smallest towns I have ever seen, and not close to anything large, so my options were like, nothing. I decided to wait until we were gong into Appleton or Milwaukee, and then I would try to bring it along and find a geek squad or something. But then I saw this ad in our work newsletter. It was a private guy, he worked out of his house, and would come to mine to make a diagnosis for free. So I called him.

He comes to the house and immediately I am worried. Not that I judge everyone by appearances, but he is kind of dirty and really needs to shave. But, still, he is taking a look at my pc (along with some of the laptops - which I will brief you on at the end). He took it home with him, and the long and short of it is that (over $300.00 later) he replaced the hard drive - again! But no files were lost, so I guess I am still in good shape, right? WRONG!!

Apparently when he installed the new hard drive, he did not put any security software on my computer! That brings us to the most recent problem. We kept getting a message when we were working on the computer. Something like "Malware has been detected on your PC. Warning!" Of course, I have no idea what this is, so we just ignore it and keep using it. Then one day, the creepiest thing happened. I was on it and suddenly the screen went blotchy bright blue, and hundreds of small, black cockroaches starting crawling all over the screen. Morgan and I were working together, and when it happened, we both jumped and even let out a little scream. I shut down the machine and then fired it back up. I was able to get to the log in screem but when I actually tried to log in, it flashed this huge warning "WARNING - Your computer has a Virus!!" It was like nothing I had ever seen. And that was it, you couldn't do anything.

This time, I called my new computer guy (similar to mom's Troy). It is the boyfriend of someone I work with, and as you will see below I had already worked with him, he is good, thorough, and fair. He takes it home and tells me shortly that he had never seen anything like this, that it would take many hours to fix - and the fix might not even bring the machine up to full working capacity. Of course, there is always the option to install a new hard drive! (For those of you who are counting, that would be number 4 on a machine that is only like 3 years old!) I opted for the sane solution - dump that piece of crap and I will get a new computer! The problem with this: I haven't sold my house, I am about to stop working, and we will soon be adding a new home to our list of bills. Purchasing a new computer right now seems a little foolish. But what else am I to do?? The other problem - since I had the back up hard drive set to update automatically every night, it probably updated the virus as well, meaning, you guessed it, all my stuff is lost. We are not sure that is actually the case yet, but if it is, I will die. I have EVERY ONE of my photos on the computer. I will be able to download my ITunes onto a new pc, so that is good, but my pictures!! I will die if they are gone.

So the breakdown of where my family sits right now as far as computers go:
1. No desktop - unsure if any files/pictures will be salvageable, and no Itunes until I get a new PC to download my account to (This is particularly devastating for the girls as they use ITunes every day)

2. I am currently using Mindy's old laptop she got when she graduated from high school - It works fine, but must be plugged in at all times since it has no battery. (This pc was given to me by my dad who was calling it a lost cause because the cord was faulty, so it kept shutting down. I paid the first WI guy to fix the cord so it would be usable.)

3. Bryan and I both have laptops from work. I am about to lose mine since I will no longer be working.

4. We have two old Mac laptops mom gave to the girls a few Christmases ago. Both are too old to really be of any use. They are too slow to go on the internet. Brantley is about the only one that uses them - to type!

5. We have Bryan's personal laptop. It, too is broken. It has somehting to do with the screen - again the first WI computer guy looked at it for me. It was going to be pricey to fix, so it is just sitting here, collecting dust. [Maybe I should pay to fix the screen and let that be my main computer. Beats buying a new desktop - but I really like a desktop for all my work!]

6. The girls each have a laptop that Bryan and I bought them for Christmas. They are refurbished Compaqs - although everything appeared brand new when they arrived. I have already had my good WI computer guy work on them both. When we got them they were really slow and should have been top notch. He got them all up and working perfectly. But now, Morgan's screen works on and off, and her wireless card is shot! So we are having that repaired.

I serously want to scream with all the problems we have with computers. It's just not like you can buy the darn thing - hook it up - and use it without any complications. I have sunk so much money into pc repair and maintenance - thnk of all the shoes I could have bought with that money!! So, this blog is long enough, let's end it by saying I am technologically challenged and should probably give up computers all together!

*On a side note, Sandy got the same Dell from mom the same Christmas. Hers lasted an even shorter amount of time before they had to replace theirs. All I have to say is I will never buy another Dell!